The Ragged 50: Albums of 2009

You've been a long time coming. Ten years ago Mos Def released his landmark solo debut Black On Both Sides, a year after the, well, landmark partnership with Talib Kweli on Black Star. Overblown and overdue follow-up and contractually-obliged third album aside, Mos has devoted most of the intervening decade to a successful acting career. The Ecstatic is no side thought though. There are weird low key moments here (as you'd expect with Stones Thrown siblings Oh No and Madlib involved on a few tracks) and more energetic, soulful ones too that prove a clearly happier Mos Def has still got his original skills in spades to make The Ecstatic a triumphant return to day jobbing. (Padraic Halpin)

This kind of arm-flailing mud-fi indie isn’t to everyone’s tastes, but that’s because people are boring. Also people lie to themselves. Nathan Williams doesn’t – at least as Wavves: ‘Got no God/got no girlfriend/got nothing at all’, as on the mini-classic ‘No Hope Kids’. In fact, Williams has immense talent, a protégé if ever there was one. It’s Williams who will provide for this strange DIY-genre, and along the way will continue to redefine popular music as per Wavvves. (Daniel Greenwood)

Along with Final Fantasy, Bird has pretty much cornered an entire sub-genre of music – what you might call “intelligent virtuoso violin-based indie pop”. Noble Beast is up to his usual high standards, and ticks all the boxes we’ve come to expect – eccentric lyrics, fine use of whistling, and a wonderfully rewarding attention to production details – while being characterised by a looser, more relaxed mood that allows him to explore the folkier, more contemplative side of his songwriting. (Tim Groenland)

Catacombs cements McCombs’ reputation as one of the most original, idiosyncratic and interesting musicians around. After the slick, layered production of Dropping the Writ, the loose, countrified feel here takes some getting used to; however, McCombs’ superlative songcraft – his way with a melody, enigmatic lyrics, and instinct for simplicity - soon shines through, and as with all of his work, moments that at first seem perplexing soon start to feel entirely natural. (Tim Groenland)

While 2009 will be remembered in many quarters as The Year of Florence, it was another redhead who produced an album of arguably greater staying power. Boasting an embarrassment of bittersweet electropop gems – several of which yielded some of the year’s finest remixes – La Roux injected some fresh life into the ongoing ‘80s synth revival. Elly Jackson’s icy androgyny is a perfect foil for the smack-in-the-mouth catchiness of ‘Bulletproof’ and ‘Armour Love’, two highlights of an album that owes a heavy debt to The Human League, Depeche Mode et al. while still sounding unmistakably ‘now’. (Paul Harrington)

When reviewing Florence’s debut on this site, this writer wrote that Lungs, although superb, may be too idiosyncratic to deliver the mega-sales seemingly demanded by a baying music industry. Such concern proved wide of the mark, and by September’s Electric Picnic festival, Florence had been crowned the crossover queen of alt. rock. Cynics will point to an aggressive marketing campaign and press hype, but this was a blistering, original and often sublime debut, which deserved its success, uniting critics, ver yoof and Tesco shoppers as fans. (Shane Murphy)

"Thankyou for downloading in barely a minute something that we poured a year of our lives into," Andy "Falco" Falkous blogged when his band's second album leaked over two months ahead of releases and barely three after mastering. "How far, I wonder does this entitlement for free music go?" he continued. "Perhaps I should come to an arrangement with my landlord, through the musician-rent-waiver programme. Perhaps he should pay me, for his ninth-division indie-cred through association." The former McLusky man was pissed but his anger was vented in the most measured of responses, rather like the eloquent racket on Travels With Myself... Ferociously brilliant, it's an album you really don't deserve to own for free. (Padraic Halpin)

Good Evening is the debut album from Ramona Gonzalez, an LA-based composer and multimedia artist who records solely on portable 8-track cassette deck. The result is an album of woozy, ethereal pop, and of highly addictive melodies rendered in a hazy, delicate style that makes you feel like you’re lost in the back garden at an imaginary 80s house party. This is more than just hipster posturing, though; far from being a stylistic quirk, the retro production feels essential to the mood of dreamy synth-based bliss and acts as a perfect counterpoint to the moments of creepy, bassy funk that pepper the album. (Tim Groenland)

Quiet, emotional, subtle, breathtaking, consuming, wonderful, No Wonder is quite possibly the most beautiful album to be released in 2009. It’s refreshing to hear an album delivered with the wide-eyed optimism and passion that could only come from someone of such a young and hopeful age (Stratton released this album at the tender ager of 22). His influences may be obvious, Nick Drake and Sufan Stevens clearly take pride of place within his record collection, but don’t let that take away from the delicacy that is No Wonder. (Paul Vickery)

The “difficult second album” provided little challenge to the Arctic Monkeys. Not only (in this writer's opinion) did they better their debut, they sailed on though the difficult phase and entered the fabled “experimental third album” period. Again they've delivered bigger and better things. Brooding, hypnotic and textural, Humbug showcased a band high on confidence and quite possibly a few other things which not only spread the possibilities of this band further a field, but showed that they are willing to take the risks most bands in their position wouldn’t dare think about. (Paul Vickery)

“Why There Are Mountains from New York’s Cymbals Eats Guitars is one of the best albums to be released this year.”… yes, quite the opening statement and one which this writer did fear would come back to haunt him later in the year, but sorry it's mid-December and I stand by every single one of these words. Not for a moment has any ounce of enjoyment waned because it really is not often you come across such a brave, expansive debut album. There Are Mountains from New York’s Cymbals Eats Guitars is one of the best albums to be released this year. So good you can’t help but say it twice. (Paul Vickery)

Thank god for The Flaming Lips. Just when you thought they were trying to cling onto past glories that peaked with 2002's Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, they decide to turn up the craziness on Embryonic. The bands first double-album sees them return to their experimental roots whilst still keeping a firm grip on their ability to write aurally addictive music you can’t help but enjoy. Full of hypnotic distorted bass-lines, mobile phone signal interruptions and sounds clearly from another universe, Embryonic not only furthers the realisation that The Flaming Lips are one of the bravest bands signed to a major label at the moment, but that they clearly are from another planet. And what a wonderful planet it must be. (Paul Vickery)

Beloved by critics and adored by a large, loyal fanbase, it took this writer a little longer to fall for Doves. Kingdom of Rust proved the tipping point. While not obviously different from their previous work, it was just that little more nuanced, a tad lighter of touch, and a smidgen more consistent. It all added up to a fantastic, euphoric record that was easy to love, and a worthy companion piece to Elbow’s The Seldom Seen Kid. Naturally, their public lapped it up to give these unlikely lads yet another success. (Shane Murphy)

Maybe YACHT are a mystical tribe of triangular-shaped pantheists in their spare time, but what interests here is an immense electro-popular record. This doesn’t mean fringe-slanting spine-shivering either. It’s proper electronic popular music. ‘Psychic City’ is a story from inside the glowing mind of Claire L. Evans amid a city of sentient, cake-baking kitchens. Heck, the first three songs on See Mystery Lights might be the most inspiring and inviting of this year. (Daniel Greenwood)

Probably the most inventive album of the year, Jewellery sounded like no other and continually won fans from across the board – crowned the alternative Mercury prize winner (Speech Debelle, who r ya). Although the listener wanted to hear every note, Micachu confessed to getting incredibly impatient with her songs. A bad habit perhaps but a habit that leads to an abundance of ideas and hooks on each track. We’ll see if the 21-year old grows more patient with age but then we’d have been watching her next move regardless. (Pete Hurst)

There are few better feelings than when you can hear a band coming into their own, meeting every expectation, figuring out their strengths, removing their weaknesses and really hitting every desired note perfectly. This moment for Phoenix came in the shape of Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Released just in time for summer, it’s a collection of witty indie-pop classics which never tire with time, doing quite the opposite in fact and growing to make an even bigger album than most thought possible from the Phoenix camp. This was their Smile, their Sgt. Peppers, their time to show the world that they were capeable of and they met and even exceeded every expectation. (Paul Vickery)

"It's just me and pretty traditional stuff really," Dayve Hawk, the man behind the Memory Tapes moniker, told Ragged Words when quizzed about just how his warm, woozy and dreamy debut came to be. That being the case then, Seek Magic sets a new benchmark of just how far traditional instruments can be pushed. To the uninformed ear, it sounds like the hand of just another, albeit very good, sampler of other people's work. Once you're aware, however, that it is in fact Hawk plucking the guitar solo on the marvelous 'Bicycle' and sitting behind the piano that underpins the just as fantastic 'Green Knight', you realise where the album's warmth comes from. Dude's the remixer of the year too. Just for good measure. (Padraic Halpin)

One of the year’s pleasant surprises, Primary Colours signalled the reinvention of NME fops The Horrors and should have won the Mercury Prize. Previously derided as little more than walking haircuts, the band actually learned to play their guitars this time around, and the results sound like a narcotic-fuelled punch-up between Kevin Shields, The Sonics and the Reid brothers. Faris Badwan’s mannered shriek is buried beneath a sea of pitch-black distortion, and there’s an attention to detail that points to the hands of co-producers Geoff Barrow and Chris Cunningham. Like most great rock records, the whole thing sounds like it was recorded in a bombed-out corridor. Just try not to mention Peaches Geldof. (Paul Harrington)

A relatively late arrival (27) to the songwriting game, Girls frontman Christopher Owens more than made up for lost time with this stunningly accomplished debut. Never mind the back story – drugs, cults, girls and more drugs – this is an album brimming with songs of salvation and teary-eyed honesty that are as sonically diverse as they are compulsively listenable. Running the full gamut of classic American songcraft, from lonely Pet Sounds-era ballads to sub-three-minute power pop gems and even Sonic Youth-aping white noise, the only downside here is not being able to decide on a favourite track. By filtering their influences through a soft-focus, broken-down production aesthetic that brilliantly matches the slightly queasy, end-of-summer feel throughout, Owens and co. have delivered a record that already sounds like a bona fide classic. (Paul Harrington)

'Bitte Orca' sounds superb. But not just in itself, phonetically, the rolling 'e' and 'r', the purr of air passing between the lips, stopped by the sudden appearance of the letter 'b'. That's the sound of a Dave Longstreth snare shot, cutting through the glow of Amber Coffman, Haley Dekle and Angel Deradoorian's godly vocal harmony. 'Useful Chamber' is three songs in one, a classic that perhaps typifies this great generation of experimental American musicians. 'All I need/right here with me', and this from the home of materialism. A new voice in American music has emerged in this glittering, golden period in time. (Daniel Greenwood)